Charles Schwab Corporation(SCHW) recently announced its decision to acquire optionsXpress in a friendly all-stock deal, as the company takes aim at the growing foreign exchange market. The move adds to Schwab's arsenal as it competes with firms like E-Trade(ETFC), Ameritrade(AMTD), Fidelity and Bank of America(BAC).

Our $19.74 price estimate for Charles Schwab implies a roughly 10% premium to the stock's market price.

Charles Schwab (SCHW) has announced its decision to acquire optionsXpress (OXPS) in a friendly all-stock deal. This deal will help Schwab compete with other firms like E-Trade (ETFC), Ameritrade (AMTD), and Bank of America (BAC), which all have large online brokerage services and are vying to provide investors with the best tools and services.

The deal, which is expected to close by the third quarter of 2011, will cost Schwab $1 billion, and the company will issue 60 million new shares to swap each outstanding share of optionsXpress with 1.02 of its own shares. Our $19.74 price estimate for Charles Schwab is at a premium of almost 12% to its current market value.

The nice thing about stock options is leverage. This is often magnified when there is a buyout, when there is usually a hefty premium.

Ironically enough, OptionsXpress (OXPS) would have been a nice options play today as the stock price is up about 15%. You see, Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) has agreed to shell out $1 billion for the company.

In December, the view from here argued that OptionsXpress Holdings Inc. (OXPS) -- first discussed on December 3, 2010, at a price of $19.03 -- was a high-risk stock capable of a wild ride. So far, OXPS hasn't disappointed.

In December 2010, the stock jumped through psychological resistance at $20, and traded above $21, only to plunge back down to as low as $13.70. The stock currently trades near $16.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an August bull-put credit spread below the $20 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 9.9% return in just two months as long as OXPS is above $20 at August expiration. OXPS would have to fall by more than 14% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

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Nextest Systems Corporation (NASDAQ: NEXT): Buy-out by Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE: TER) brings peaks at $19.64, up from 52-week low of $10.49.

OptionsXpress Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: OXPS): Broker says it had a big increase in November volume. Shares trade up to $32.50 against 52-week low of $20.78.

EMCORE Corporation (NASDAQ: EMKR): Lands deal to provide parts for solar-power systems in Canada. Up to $11.67 from 52-week low of $3.84.

Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES): Price of crude jumps 5% to multi-week high. Shares move up to $82.48 from 52-week low of $45.96.

Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE): Chemical company raises full-year outlook. Trades up to $43.72 from 52-week low of $22.56.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.